US watchdog re-certifies Jockey's India partner Page Industries' unit as socially compliant | Economic Times

New Delhi: Page Industries, the exclusive licensee of Jockey International in India, on Monday said the US apparel industry watchdog has re-certified its facility to be "socially compliant" months after allegations of human rights violations at the factory. The US-based Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), which had launched this probe into one of the production facilities of the Bengaluru-based Page Industries, said human right violations allegations were substantiated by the findings of the audit. "Located at Bommasandra, Bangalore in India, unit-3 was audited by WRAP as per its standard procedures in October 2020. WRAP has re-certified the facility to be socially compliant," Page Industries said in a regulatory filing. Vedji Ticku, Executive Director and CEO, Page Industries Ltd (Jockey India) said WRAP was fully satisfied after an independent audit of the company's unit-3 manufacturing facility at Bangalore. Jockey International and all its subsidiaries exclusively use WRAP certified or equivalent factories and requires all licensed partners to comply with Jockey standards and maintain WRAP certification. Earlier this year, Norway's USD 1-trillion wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, had excluded Page Industries from its portfolio for alleged human rights violations. Post which, WARP began its audit of Page Industries' facility. "Page Industries' track record and long-standing partnership with Jockey did not match with the allegations published in the report by the Council on Ethics for the Norges Bank pertaining to Page Industries Ltd , unit-3. "In keeping with its standard procedures, WRAP recently conducted an audit of unit-3, as part of the WRAP re-certification process for that facility... Page worked transparently with WRAP to conduct the audit and maintain certification for unit-3," Mark Fedyk, President and COO, Jockey International, Inc said. Page Industries is also the exclusive licensee of Speedo International for the manufacturing, marketing and distribution in India. It was set up in 1994 with the key objective of bringing brand Jockey to India. Its promoter Genomal family has been associated with Jockey International for 50 years. It became a public company in March 2007 and is listed on leading bourses such as BSE and NSE. According to a regulatory filing, Page Industries had reported a revenue of Rs 2,945.42 crore and a net profit of Rs 343.22 crore for FY 2019-20. WRAP is a non-profit organisation focused on the sewn products sector and it certifies socially responsible facilities.